On March 9, the Israeli government announced it will pursue nuclear energy and technology. Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said that the country needs nuclear energy to promote environmental cleanliness. On the same day, the Syrian government likewise announced an interest in nuclear energy.
Israel, which has a large stock of undeclared nuclear weapons, has repeatedly taken military and diplomatic action to prevent other countries from acquiring nuclear technology. In violation of international law, the U.S. government and Israel have sanctioned and threatened Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear technology, which Iran maintains is part of a civilian energy program. Some mainstream Israeli newspapers openly call for military strikes against Iran and its nuclear facilities.
There is a long history of such military aggression. An Israeli raid in 1981 destroyed Iraq’s partially built Osirak nuclear reactor. In 2007, Israeli warplanes struck another Syrian site they alleged was a secret plutonium-producing reactor.
Israel’s open embrace of nuclear energy—which undoubtedly will be supported by the U.S. government—throws into sharp relief the extreme double standard of the campaign against Iran. It is up to the progressive people of the world to point out this hypocrisy and take action.
